For years the Law and Order franchise set the bar for network television legal drama. Genre fans could count on objective, linear plot lines (with required twists, turns, and red herrings) that made legal sense-sometimes solid, sometimes interpretable,. That's how the courts work, interpreting written law based on evidence and precedent. It's been a winning formula of producer Dick Wolf for decades.
But television evolves. Executive producers move on. Salaries escalate. Corners are cut. And writers responsible for innovative, gripping stories exhaust ideas. It's why so many highly-rated series call it quits after seven to eight seasons. It's not just ratings that kill programming, but intentional artistic decision.
S. V. U. Began to lose steam around Season 17. Yes, there were some outstanding episodes to follow, but no seasons with the consistency to match the first 16. Story lines began to take on soap-opera subplots of the major characters, the telltale sign that either, A) the old production team was tapped-out, B) the new production team was too lazy or not legally enough educated to push new boundaries, C) network executives thought it would it increase ratings, D) network executives cut budget, or E) a combination of all. This reviewer suspects "E".
And that leads us to this mess of an endeavor called "End Game," so implausible and absurd that it's laughable. Read the other negative reviews for why (they nail it).
Should NBC have pulled the plug? Should Wolf? They didn't, so here's hoping the executive production staff, under new leadership of Law and Order legend Warren Leight, can right ship in Season 21.